Garmin-Sharp rider proud to ditch corporate logos for Saltire and is desperate
for medal to make up for Tour de France snub

After the pain of missing out on the Tour de France, David Millar said he was hoping to find redemption in the colours of Scotland when the road cycling events begin at the Commonwealth Games on Thursday.

Millar will compete in both the time trial on Thursday and the road race on Sunday, and the 37-year-old, who retires at the end of the season, said a medal of any colour in either event would “dwarf the disappointment of missing out” on what would have been his 13th Tour.

“Our [professional team] jerseys are named after corporations and we’re paid to sell their products,” Millar reflected on Wednesday. “Pulling on a Scotland jersey, for only the second time in my life, really means a lot. This will be one of the biggest events of my life, I’d say. Whether it would mean so much if I was 18, whether it would be so massively important to me, I don’t know. But I’m 37. This is the end.”

The Scot, who declined the opportunity to represent Scotland as a teenager at the Commonwealth Games in Malaysia in 1998 in order to concentrate on riding for his professional team Cofidis, said that he had “lost perspective” over the course of his career. Millar served a doping suspension between 2004 and 2006.

“I now understand why this is more important to me than racing on a corporate team. Putting on a Scotland jersey and riding for Scotland is who I am.”

Dowsett was also dropped controversially ahead of the Tour de France by his team Movistar. The Essex-born rider said he would be “disappointed” not to win the gold medal having had the whole of July to prepare.

“The course is nice,” he said. “It’s got a bit of everything; some technical sections, there’s long straight power sections and there’s some climbs as well. It definitely does play to my strengths.”

Dowsett said he would need to beware the “wily old dog” Millar, adding that he also expected Wales’s Geraint Thomas, the three Australians and New Zealander Jesse Sergeant to challenge.